Leading the way
Looking to make the most out of every dollar, Canadian municipalities are increasingly looking to PPPs as a way to deliver their infrastructure. Winnipeg, Calgary and Regina are among the cities at the forefront of the trend
CANADIAN MUNICIPALITIES ARE quickly waking up to the possibilities of better delivering their infrastructure needs via public-private partnerships (PPPs). during the second round of competition for the $1.25 billion PPP Canada Fund, for example, nearly half of the 73 applications were for municipal projects.
This strong interest should come as no surprise. As the Federation of Canadian Municipalities observed in a 2006 report, Canada's cities have been saddled with increasing responsibilities - everything from affordable housing to emergency preparedness to day care - while falling transfer payments from other levels of government and increasingly unreliable property taxes have eaten away at their revenues.
As a result, the country's municipalities - which build, own and maintain the majority of Canada's infrastructure - spent less upgrading and maintaining their assets. After all, capital budgets could be deferred or postponed, while operating budget needs had to be dealt with immediately.
The neglected capital spending snowballed into what the Federation of Canadian Municipalities estimated in 2007 to be a $123 billion municipal infrastructure deficit.
With this in mind, Infrastructure Investor surveyed several municipalities to get their thoughts on where PPPs ft into their infrastructure renewal strategy and what their pipelines look like for future projects.
As evident from these three municipalities' stories, there is no shortage of need for PPPs. It's simply a matter of putting together the expertise and capital needed to make them happen.